Friday FanFare with Alicia Dean

I have the talented multi-published author of creep galore with me in the round pen with a “sweet treat” for you! I’ll badger her and she’ll, hopefully, reciprocate! 😀

Let’s jump right in. Alicia, please tell us…

It all began when…

A group of writer friends were discussing releasing an anthology of Valentine stories. It fell through, but the idea for Cupid’s Beau had started to form, so I wrote the story and released it as a stand-alone. I thought for Valentine’s Day the story should be sweet, so I strayed from my usual creepy murder and mayhem.

Tell us three things about you readers wouldn’t typically know, and can you share your author bio with us?

1) When I first start a story, and for a good part of the process, I flounder. The story feels like it will never come together. Fortunately, it eventually does.

2) In most of my stories, I use celebrities as models for my main characters.

3) I have three novels I’ve started and haven’t finished, but I hope to get back to them at some point.

Bio:

Alicia Dean lives in Edmond, Oklahoma and is the mother of three grown children. Alicia loves creating spine-chilling stories that keep readers on the edge of their seats. She’s a huge Elvis Presley fan, and loves MLB and the NFL. If you look closely, you’ll see a reference to one or all three in pretty much everything she writes. If she could, she would divide all her time between writing, watching her favorite television shows-such as Dexter, Vampire Diaries, Justified, and True Blood-and reading her favorite authors…Stephen King, Dennis Lehane, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, and Lisa Gardner to name a few.

Where did you get the premise for this book?

Well, it was a challenge to come up with something that would be purely a romance. I thought it would be interesting to create a story where the heroine was a Cupid. Having her fall in love with the man she was supposed to help fall in love seemed like a good conflict.

What stands out about this story that makes it different for you?

Definitely the fact that it’s sweet and humorous. Not my usual fare. I was pleased with the way it turned out and I enjoyed writing it much more than I expected.

Were there any difficult challenges or special subject matter you came across while writing this book?

I was concerned about it coming off as cheesy and it was a challenge to keep that from happening. I hope I succeeded.

What about this book would make us want to read it?

Ivy, my heroine, is funny and sweet. Watching her navigate life on earth and deal with her confusing impulses is, hopefully, entertaining.

What do you want readers to take away from this book?

The warm fuzzies, LOL. There’s nothing life changing about the story, but I would like to provide readers a few hours of feel good escape from their daily lives.

Finally- tell us about the finished book. Anything we might not know?

I had a lot of help from some of my writer friends in creating this story. Ammanda McCabe suggested that I have Aphrodite be the leader, the person who oversees the Cupids. That was a fun touch. Anna Kittrell was not only a beta reader for me, but she thought of the title and gave me an idea for one of the plot points that worked out really well. Another writer friend, Jessica Ferguson, also beta read for me. Their efforts helped to make the story better than I could have done on my own.

Blurb:

Ivy Pierce is a Cupid who prides herself on doing her job well. Except when it comes to a certain human male, Grant Crawford. Although she doesn’t understand why, each time she’s supposed to shoot her arrow into his heart, her stomach hurts, her chest hurts, and she feels….sad. Cupids are never sad.

Humans who are not looking for love only get three chances to find it. And after Ivy sabotages Grant’s last chance, her boss, Aphrodite, sends her to earth to right her wrong. She has until Valentine’s Day to help him find his soul mate.

But the more she’s around him, the more she wants him for herself, even though she knows that can never be. A Cupid and a human? Unheard of.

As V-Day draws closer, can she sacrifice her own happiness to help the man she loves find his?

Excerpt

The young girl at the hostess stand favored Ivy with a friendly smile. “One for lunch?”

“No, no thank you. I’m here to see Grant Crawford.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No. But he’ll want to see me. I’m sure of it. Tell him Ivy Pierce is here to make his dreams come true.”

The girl’s smile faltered. “To make his—”

“Yes, that’s right. Dreams come true.”

The girl quickly schooled her features. “One moment please.”

Ivy tapped her foot as she waited. What had she been thinking? Where she came up with that line, she had no idea. It had just occurred to her out of the blue. The likelihood of Grant Crawford being enticed by such a sentiment was doubtful. He was a practical, down to Earth man with no time for love, let alone flights of fancy.

That’s why her chin almost hit the ground when Grant Crawford came through the door from the restaurant into the foyer. If she thought he looked good from the clouds, oh my. He wore black slacks and a dove gray shirt and black tie without a jacket. His eyes were even darker brown up close. Her stomach quivered, and her fingers went numb.

“Make my dreams come true?” he barked, shattering her fantasy. His sensual lips were bracketed by lines of annoyance instead of his adorable dimple. “What kind of nonsense is this?”

My newest release is now available; Liberty Awakened Isle of Fangs Book 1

Evil lurks beneath the surface in the beauty of the tropics…

After graduation from her small, Oklahoma high school, Liberty Delacort is looking forward to a fun-filled summer before college. But when the people she trusts the most betray her, and a letter arrives claiming her deceased father is still alive, she jumps at the chance to travel to an exotic island to meet him.

But her excitement is short-lived. Her father is dying, and he doesn’t want her around. And, in spite of its outward tranquility, the island is filled with danger and ominous secrets. The secrets soon begin to unravel, and she discovers she is a descendant of Van Helsing, the vampire hunter.

The one up side is her budding romance with the sweet and sexy Ryan Kelly. But even that is threatened when—in spite of her fear of him—she finds herself attracted to an insolent, formidable vampire. Her plan to stay away from him fails when she learns he is the only one with the ability to train her to fulfill her destiny—to save humans from a faction of vicious vampires.

Will her inexperience lead to her death—and the death of others—or will she rise to the challenge and realize her full potential as a Hunter?

These sound like two fab books, Alicia. Thanks for bringing them to share today and I wish you much success (not that you need it). 🙂

And speaking of fab–Alicia is offering a copy each of Cupid’s Beau and Liberty Awakened to two lucky winners, so drop a comment WITH YOUR EMAIL for a chance at one of these two books!!!!

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About Calisa Rhose

I'm a mother of three daughters, five granddaughters, and wife to a wonderfully supportive man. I began writing warm-you-to-the-bones romance as a teen, and the addiction has now morphed into a life of its own. I became a published author in May 2011! I create art and jewelry with polymer clay and beads to relax, and have a passion for sewing for fun.
Check out my Tips From an Editor blog at https://painlessediting.wordpress.com/
See my art and sewing projects at http://lisasfancifulallure.wordpress.com

Hello ladies, late here due to coming from London :). Lovely learning more about you, Alicia, esp in the lovely setting :). I’m glad I’m not the only one who flounders in my books, makes me feel less of a fraud. Love the sound of both your books, good luck with all your many sales! Caitosullivan(at)ymail(dot)com. Have a lovely Saturday 🙂

Hahaha, Cait. I flounder so much, I should live in the water (get it? corny joke, but what can I say. i’ve only had one cup of coffee). Thank you for coming all the way from London to say hi. Have a lovely Saturday too!

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